Topic on User talk:The King of the Monsters

You argued that because the majority of contemporary sources use the other spelling of the name, it is deliberate and therefore the definitive version. What is the case for it being deliberately spelled that way, rather than being misspelled from another source? Is it not a possibility that the majority of sources had unknowingly spread the misspelled version instead? Is the Sci-Fi Japan Guide treated as a less-credible source despite using the spelling that engenders proper pronunciation?

I think it's better to use the spelling that is more accurate to the show and how the characters pronounce it. I do not think the proliferation of an improperly-spelled, and by consequence improperly-pronounced, version of the name is grounds for treating it as the authoritative version of the name. If my friend's name was "Pieter", but the majority of records continued to misspell his name as "Peter", I'd still use "Pieter" because that is the proper way to spell and say it. And this is a case where the difference in pronunciation is a lot more subtle.

Here is a breakdown of how the sources work out for the different spellings:

Cryptocleidus

• SciFi Japan series guide (2006)

Cryptocledius

• Godzilla: The Series - The Monster Wars DVD packaging (1999)
• Godzilla 1954-1999 Super Complete Works (2000)

Cryptcledius

• Godzilla: The Series - Monster Wars game packaging (2000)
• Godzilla: The Series official Sony website (circa 2000)

Cryptoclidus

• Godzilla: The Series - The Monster Wars DVD subtitles (1999)

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As you can see, it's a bit of a mess, but the SFJ article is literally the only source we could find that says "Cryptocleidus." The Crypto- part is sometimes misspelled as "Crypt-" but the -cledius ending nonetheless stays consistent. The pronunciation in the show is more like the real-life Cryptoclidus, which is confirmed by those subtitles for Monster Wars: Part 2. I see no reason that the SFJ article should be treated as gospel and all the other more contemporaneous sources be ignored just because it's a nicer spelling.

At that point why not use the real-life spelling used in the DVD subtitles? I get that subtitles can be wrong, but reading "cledius" is not the same as reading "cleidus", you kinda need the "ei" in there to make the name sound like the real-life spelling. The "nicer spelling" in this case at least gets you to pronounce it like how the characters in the show use it. I'm willing to concede that I made a mistake then, using treating "ei" as definitive. I think that using the wrong spelling, which leads people to pronounce the name differently from how the characters say it, because it consistently shows up more often shouldn't be used to treat it as the definitive version.